A Floyd County man cleared of murder after more than 22 years in prison is suing the county and several law enforcement investigators he says deliberately falsified and hid evidence to wrongly put him behind bars.
Joseph “Joey” Watkins was set up by Floyd County police and GBI officers in their investigation of the January 2000 shooting death of a young man driving through Rome, according to his complaint.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges Floyd County police and GBI investigators intentionally concealed evidence that proved Watkins wasn’t the perpetrator, keeping key information from the man’s defense attorneys, prosecutors, the jury that convicted him in 2001 and lawyers from the Georgia Innocence Project who were trying to exonerate him.
“For more than two decades, Joey Watkins was deprived of his free will and the right to live a life of his own making,” the complaint says.
It is the third lawsuit recently filed against Floyd County alleging that corruption by its police officers led to a wrongful murder conviction.
Similar lawsuits were filed by Daryl “Lee” Clark and Cain “Josh” Storey in November and December 2024, respectively, over their murder convictions and prison sentences in the 1996 death of a teenager during a game of “Russian roulette.”
The county’s attorneys did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuits. In court filings, the county has sought to dismiss the complaints by Clark and Storey.
A spokesperson for the GBI said the agency does not provide comment in relation to pending legal action.
The GBI is fighting similar claims filed in 2023 by Terry Talley, a resident of LaGrange in West Georgia, who was exonerated of rape charges for which he spent 40 years in prison. Talley alleges GBI officers helped LaGrange police frame him to protect the real perpetrator — a city police officer fired in 1981 soon after the first rapes.
Watkins’ lawsuit comes days after the city of LaGrange approved a $10.5 million settlement to resolve Talley’s claims against it.
“I am disappointed that the GBI isn’t taking responsibility, but I am going to go ahead with that case,” Talley said. “I guess sometimes it takes time for people to do what they know they should do.”
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Watkins’ lawsuit also follows the signing of a new Georgia law giving exonerees a chance to seek compensation from the state for the years they spent wrongly incarcerated.
Watkins claims he was cleared as a suspect by the Rome police officer in charge of the initial investigation into Isaac Dawkins’ death, in part because of cell tower records and witness testimony. He alleges the Floyd County Police Department took over the case as one of its captains was friends with Dawkins’ father, who was frustrated at the lack of an arrest.
County investigators disregarded evidence implicating a different suspect and based their bogus theory about Watkins on coerced false testimony from vulnerable and unreliable witnesses, including jailhouse informants, per the complaint. Watkins claims county and GBI investigators deliberately hid reports, notes and other evidence showing his innocence and that a GBI agent lied on the witness stand.
For years, Floyd County and the GBI obstructed efforts to obtain evidence in the case, Watkins asserts. He says by the time he was set free in 2023, his parents were “shells of their former selves” and “broken financially” after years of championing his freedom.
Watkins was 20 when he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Sonya Pfeiffer, an attorney for Watkins, said Dawkins’ family and the people of Floyd County deserve to know the truth.
“Since his release, and as recently as the past two months, Joey Watkins has been publicly and unjustly attacked despite his innocence,” she said. “We intend to prove (the complaint) on behalf of Joey as he seeks accountability for the immeasurable harm done to him and his family.”
The Floyd County district attorney’s office dropped the criminal case against Watkins after he was granted a new trial and released on bond, court records show. His freedom was based on evidence unearthed by the Georgia Innocence Project and true crime podcasters.
Talley, who was released from prison in 2021, was also assisted by the Georgia Innocence Project, which convinced the LaGrange Police Department in 2008 to reinvestigate the rapes.
During a meeting on May 27, 2025, members of the LaGrange City Council unanimously approved Talley’s $10.5 million settlement. The city will pay $5.2 million and insurers will cover the rest.
“While no current employee or elected official was associated with the city of LaGrange in 1981, we all express our deepest sympathies to Mr. Talley for the suffering that he endured,” City Manager Patrick Bowie said.
Talley said he’s grateful to be able to move forward with the city acknowledging his innocence and taking responsibility for what its officers did to him.
“I know they did wrong in the past, but you can’t change the past,” he said. “The (police) chief and others in city government did their best to right those wrongs, and they have done right by me since I got out. That means a lot.”
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